I see a lot of posts on X lately saying some version of: “The hardest part of building a SaaS isn’t the product, it’s the marketing.”
I agree with that statement, to a point. I also think it reveals something deeper, and a little uncomfortable.
The same problem shows up in job searches.
People talk about the job market as if it’s uniquely broken, uniquely hostile, or uniquely unfair right now. And yes, the market is challenging. There are real macro forces at play. But I don’t think finding a job is inherently harder than doing a job, any more than marketing a SaaS is inherently harder than building one.
They’re just different skill sets.
And many (dare I say most) people are very good at one, and absolutely terrible at the other.
Execution vs. marketing is a real divide
Developers are a great example.
Many engineers can implement complex systems with ease. They can design architectures, write clean code, ship features, debug production issues, and keep things running under pressure. Execution is their comfort zone.
But ask them to explain why what they built matters, to a customer, a hiring manager, or a non-technical stakeholder, and things often fall apart.
The value is there. The impact is there. The skill is there.
The story is missing.
The same thing happens in job searches.
You can be excellent at your job, consistently delivering, solving hard problems, making teams better, and still struggle mightily to land your next role. Not because you’re bad at what you do, but because you don’t know how to market yourself in a way that creates interest, confidence, and momentum.
Marketing isn’t lying even though people treat it like it is
A lot of technically strong people have an almost moral resistance to marketing.
- Marketing feels “salesy.”
- Marketing feels inauthentic.
- Marketing feels like exaggeration or spin.
So instead of learning how to do it well, they avoid it entirely.
But good marketing isn’t lying. It’s translation.
It’s taking something real and valuable and expressing it in a way that resonates with the audience you’re trying to reach.
In SaaS, that audience is customers.
In a job search, that audience is hiring managers, recruiters, and decision-makers.
In both cases, the failure mode is the same:
“I built something great. Why doesn’t anyone care?”
Being great at the work is not enough
This is the hard truth a lot of people don’t want to hear:
Being good at execution is table stakes.
It always has been.
Companies don’t hire potential value. They hire perceived value.
Customers don’t buy technical merit. They buy outcomes, clarity, and confidence.
If you can’t clearly articulate:
what you do,
why it matters,
and why you are the right person to do it,
then you’re relying on hope instead of strategy.
And hope is not a plan. Whether you’re launching a product or looking for a job.
The same pattern, over and over
When I zoom out, I see the same dichotomy everywhere:
- Builders who can ship but can’t sell
- Operators who deliver but can’t pitch
- Experts who assume the work should speak for itself
In reality, the work rarely speaks unless you teach it how.
That doesn’t mean everyone needs to become a marketer. But it does mean that if you want leverage (customers, jobs, opportunities) you need to develop at least a functional level of marketing skill.
Not hype.
Not bullshit.
Just clear, compelling communication.
The job search is a marketing problem
For many people, the job search isn’t failing because they’re unqualified.
It’s failing because they’re invisible, unclear, or indistinguishable.
Resumes list responsibilities instead of impact.
Interviews focus on tasks instead of outcomes.
Online profiles read like internal documentation instead of value propositions.
That’s not a talent problem. It’s a marketing gap.
And just like with SaaS, the people who close that gap, even imperfectly, tend to win disproportionately.
If you’re struggling to sell a product, or struggling to land a role, it might be worth asking a hard question:
“Am I actually bad at this… or am I just bad at explaining why it matters?”
In both SaaS and careers, execution gets you in the game.
Marketing is what moves the ball.
Ignoring that doesn’t make you principled.
It just makes you harder to find.